Shatter lets slip €2.5bn cuts target

Shatter let slip during a bad-tempered debate with two opposition backbenchers

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lan Shatter, the justice minister, let slip secret details of the scale of planned government cutbacks during a heated exchange in the Dail last week.

Shatter revealed he is seeking to cut €340m, equivalent to 15.7%, in his department’s spending over the next three years. If this is reflected in other departments, it means the government plans spending cuts of at least €2.5 billion next year, with increased taxes and cuts on a similar scale in 2013 and 2014.

“For this state and for me as minister to comply with obligations under the [EU/IMF] agreement concluded by the previous government . . . I have to find savings of €340m in the estimates for the Department of Justice and Equality between now and 2014,” Shatter said.

The unguarded moment came during a bad-tempered exchange with two opposition backbenchers demanding that rural garda stations not be closed. The justice minister refused to give the